Chinese military aircraft have carried out reckless maneuvers close to US aircraft nearly 200 times since 2021. Read more at straitstimes.com.
A Chinese military plane came within six metres of a US Air Force aircraft in this still image taken from a video on Dec 21, 2022.
WASHINGTON - Chinese military aircraft have carried out risky or reckless maneuvers close to US aircraft nearly 200 times since 2021, a US official said on Tuesday, putting a figure on what the Pentagon has called China’s increasingly dangerous behaviour in the skies. But despite the large number of risky intercepts, the official declined to say how many of those close calls were “unsafe and unprofessional” - a standard military term when interactions are actually dangerous.
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said there had been 180 incidents since 2021 against US military aircraft and it increased to 300 when it included maneuvers near aircraft of allies.Canada’s military accused Chinese warplanes of harassing its patrol aircraft Relations between China and the United States have been tense, with friction between the world’s two largest economies over everything, from Taiwan and China’s human rights record to its military activity in the South China SeaLast week, the Pentagon said it had accepted an invitation to attend China’s top annual security forum in late October, the latest sign of potentially warming ties between the two countries’ militaries.